Re: [apsa_itp] Can committees create great ... whatever's?

["Lee McKnight" <LMcKnigh@xxxxxxx>]

Michael,

I just picked on thel flaws in the Diebold systems recently in the news
to point out that electronic voting as currently practiced is
problematic. Certainly, Prof. Rebecca Mercuri of CMU to name one
computer scientist's name, would be pleased to know she has been wasting
her time and there are no serious problems with offline and online
e-voting.

Your dismissal of fundamental security issues answers any lingering
question I might have had with regard to your thought experiment. 

best,

Lee

Prof. Lee W. McKnight
School of Information Studies
Syracuse University
+1-315-443-6891office
+1-315-278-4392 mobile

>>> Michael Allan <mike@xxxxxxxxx> 8/20/2007 1:31 AM >>>
On Sun, Aug 19, 2007 at 10:43:38PM -0400, Lee McKnight wrote:
> Michael,
> 
> Before getting to the real world, may i suggest a  homework
> assignment?
> 
> 1) Google" Diebold california electronic voting systems" and read
> articles like:
> 
> California voting machine security tests uncover serious
> vulnerabilities
> California Bans E-Vote Machines
> CA Source Code Report: Diebold Voting Machines Can Be Hacked With
Virus
> by Single Person, Affecting Entire Election", 
> By Ryan Paul | Published: July 29, 2007 - 11:35PM CT 
> How E-Voting Threatens Democracy
> 
> (In sum, e-voting with live people and physical machines is not, um,
> let's be polite and say it's not fool-proof...

I do not envision physical voting machines. (Far too complicated to
deploy all that special-purpose equipment.)  For people who lack
computer/network access, let's just provide them with access.

Folks will come up with ideas on how to do that.  After all, they'll
be an electorate that's plugged in. They'll give top priority to
computer/network access, and vote accordingly.  So our communities
will pull together, reach out to those who lack access, and
enfranchise everybody.

>                                           ...and over the net? Well
a
> number of computer scientists have been working hard foir years to
> prevent online e-voting in real elections, because they don't trust
the
> technology. And you propose to massively scale it up?) 
> 
> OK, to be fair, experimental and real e-voting systenms are in use
> around the world, and yeah tradiitional voting has all sorts if
(known)
> flaws too.
> 
> But to just say well the financial system relies on online systems
(and
> loses billions per year), doesn't reassure me that e-democracy as
you
> envision is ready for more than, well more homework on your part
before
> proposing others join in your hypothetical thoight experiment. 
Assuming
> away the real challenges of e-democracy and e-voting reminds me of
the
> approach more typically taken taken by economists than that of
> poliitical scientists.  

Honest, I did do some homework. I found no show-stopper problems
(security or otherwise) in what I propose. I still don't see any. So
it's not really a job for computer scientists.  It's a job for
engineers. Whatever problems show up (of mortal proportions) we'll
fix 'em!

It's more the social/political side that I worry about, where my
knowledge is slim.  That's why I asked (and received!) help from
the list.

It is possibile (I will propose) we could deploy an open electoral
system in a matter of months.  That would be the ideal testbed for all
sorts of problems. I will post details momentarily, because I have
some questions for the list,

-- 
Michael Allan

http://zelea.com/ 

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